Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge: How Deming Helped Win a War, Altered the Face of Industry, and Holds the Key to Our Future

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“John Willis has looked deep into Dr. Deming's history and teachings and profoundly explains his profound knowledge. Read this book and you will understand like never before the wisdom and sound advice of Dr. Deming.” —Jeffrey K. Liker, author of The Toyota Way “A thoroughly entertaining and educational look at Deming, a man whose insights are fundamental to modern software development. This book includes delightful stories of those around Deming who influenced his work and helped create the foundation for agile and DevOps. ” —Jim Whitehurst, Senior Advisor at IBM From the birth of modern industry to winning WWII to Japan's Economic Miracle, W. Edwards Deming helped shape some of the most profound moments in modern history. Deming, an American engineer and statistician, is widely recognized for his contributions to the field of quality management. But his teachings go beyond quality management; they influence not only how we work today, but also how we can continue to succeed in the future. Part business history, part biography, part journey into deep business sense, bestselling author John Willis captures the full picture of Deming's life and influence. Most importantly, Willis reveals the experiences that led to Deming's greatest discovery: the System of Profound Knowledge, a collection of fundamental truths that show how any system or process can be transformed into something greater. From the real-life Rosie the Riveter to a hacker writing US cybersecurity law, Deming's ingenuity and system of thinking changed how we think in the modern world. This book shows how we can take that influence and continue to apply it our own future. “Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge is a must-read for any student of Lean, Agile, quality, the Toyota Production System, and continuous improvement—or any leader who seeks to create a culture of excellence in their organization.” —Katie Anderson , author of Learning to Lead , Leading to Learn Review: Meaningful biography of Deming - As someone who didn't even hear of Deming before the author gave a presentation that led me to buy this book, I enjoyed it. It doesn't have a lot of details about Profound Knowledge itself but there was enough there for me to make sense of how Deming shaped the software engineering world. The last chapter, especially, covers the 14 principles of management and how they apply to IT operations. If there's something I didn't like about this book, other than the fact that it doesn't go in depth into Profound Knowledge, is that there was a section of the book where the author felt like he had to defend Deming's place in history. It might be important but I couldn't relate to it at all as I had little background. Moreover, constant references to things that would make Deming frown or proud felt a little patronizing. All in all, I like the book and I would recommend it to anyone in IT operations and software engineering. Review: Must-read Intro to Deming - I always picture myself as a big-thought kind of person, working strategic implications to deliver on the tactical. This means keeping up with not only the current technical solutions but the foundational philosophy behind those changes John Willis, in “Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge” (ITRev, 2023) explores a management thought leader, W. Edwards Deming, and expands those ideas into modern technology. Four sections guide this journey, the foundations of profound knowledge, applications, international implications, and the next generation. The book is fascinating, reads easy, and should be a must-read for anyone considering themselves a management professional. The basic thesis explains Deming’s core ideas, and how those principles should still be foundational whether one is doing application development, launching a new business, or expanding existing solutions into an enterprise. Deming’s theories focus on four elements, knowledge, variation, psychology, and systems thinking. Knowledge looks for how does one know what they know while variation seeks tools to analyze those initial thoughts. Psychology then turns to look at human behavior influences while systems thinking strives to understand the bigger picture. If nothing else, one can see the impacts from this mindset on the DevOps Three Ways, and CALMS. Deming’s theories expand into a fourteen principle step to enact these concepts within an organization. The journey begins with some excellent biographical looks at the prime movers in scientific management. One of the interesting initial stories is between Walter Shewhart and Deming when working at a Western Electric factory in 1927. Shewhart introduced the Statistical Process Control method to find and fix problems, as well as develop the data to predict where problems might occur. Deming and Shewhart frequently credited each other in later works but it was Deming who was able to expand the ideas beyond manufacturing to a more strategic view. The second section continues the historical approach with Deming’s work as a teacher and later work with the Census bureau in 1939. Deming encouraged the statistical sampling process for the key-punch operators, eliminating those who routinely made errors. During WWII, Deming taught 27 classes to over 2,000 men and women from 700 companies, with some becoming instructors in their own right, teaching more than 31,000 individuals. Management success leading to increased production was likely a key factor in the Allied WWII victory. Unfortunately, from the post-war period until 1980, Deming’s work was largely ignored in the U.S. The story highlights how the Japanese, in rebuilding their country with limited resources, saw immense value in the process. Deming paired with Japanese academics to deliver the similar training to his U.S classes to Japanese businesses. Deming’s return to U.S. success was sparked by a primetime NBC clip in 1980 titled, “If Japan can…why can’t we?” This clip, matched against U.S. declines in auto-manufacturing, returned Deming to U.S.reknown. In may, 1980, Deming taught a class for 30 Ford executives, highlighting the importance of statistical process and quality in manufacturing. Despite Deming’s passing in 1993, his work continues to impact much of professional management. The final section expands Deming’s ideas into with Agile and DevOps, An extensive analysis occurs for how Deming’s four theories underpin most modern successes. Conversely, Willis explores how the same ideas contribute to cybersecurity, emphasizing the ideas of finding and fix small issues before becoming a problem. Chapter 19 is probably the book's most useful, fully explaining Deming’s 14 points and their potential applications. This section is normally where I find a problem or challenge with the book. I read the book multiple times and reviewed my notes, and the only gap I can find is that a timeline inclusion would have been valuable. It would have been nice to see where Deming and his academic compatriots published compared to manufacturing outcomes from a high-level perspective. While I miss having a timeline, it doesn’t detract from the text’s overall value. Some books languish on my shelf for a while and some I read right away, admittedly way too many of the read-now books are fictional. This is one I wish I had read sooner. Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge should be on the must-read list for anyone who considers themselves a manager or executive. The biographical stories excellently place the mindset and experience of individuals, the technical explanations and case–studies are always on-point, and the overall book excels at every level. There aren’t too many books I consider as a must-read in the management spectrum but if you lack time to read or listen to a book this year, you should make it this one.